Our first HD concert video! Kennedy Center! Spring & Summer Tour

You know sometimes in life you just have to go for it, take a huge risk, and see what happens. Ultrafaux has embarked on a quick progression of such risk/reward scenarios. Every indication is that we are doing something right!  Our latest risk had to do with hiring videographer Harry Bechkes to shoot an entire two hour concert, our biggest show of he year right here in Baltimore city. The pressure was intense. Not only did we have a packed house, we had a huge repertoire, no sheet music, and 4 guest artists to feature. We were prepared though and we delivered!  We hope you agree that we are producing world class gypsy jazz you all can be proud of supporting. See the video here and please subscribe 

We have been getting a lot of good recognition by the press and great attendance at shows, but this is only the tip of the iceberg.  Our plan is to do another series of shows in the south, then a European stint in late June followed by a New England and Canadian tour in late summer. Oh and we have a ton of new music being tweaked and finished for another upcoming recording session. And if that's not enough, we also have solid plans to record a Hot Club of Baltimore album featuring all the amazing players we have been featuring all year long. Alexis Tantau - vocalist, Cesar Orozco - pianist, Joe Brotherton - trumpet, Dan Cohan - percussion, Seth Kibel - clarinet & flute, John Dierker - bass clarinet and many more.  Look for a kickstarter for those after the holidays.

Ultrafaux will be featured at Kennedy Center Millenium Stage on Tuesday January 6 at 6pm.  Please try to make it and let all your DC friends know we will be in town. I believe its a free concert. Best thing is that they will provide us with a DVD of the entire show!  Also we have a big show at Ottobar in Baltimore on Feb.20 with friends The Highland Hill Boys and 99.5 Blues Band.  This will be a seriously fun night and only $10 in advance.  Early March begins our Southern tour with Conundrum in South Carolina on March 6, and an appearance on the Blue Plate Special radio show in Knoxville on March 10 at noon. Be sure to tune in. Apparently they have a pretty big audience in France which is pretty cool.

Summer plans begin with Sami and Michael going to Django in June which happens in Northhampton Massachusetts every June, then to France for Festival Samois.  Hopefully we will get a spot performing on one of the smaller stages there this year. Also booking tour stops for all over Netherlands, London, Ireland, Belgium, and France.  We end our tour traveling up through New England and into Canada where there is a huge gypsy jazz scene. We will of course try to stop in Manhattan and Brooklyn along the way.  Anyway 2014 has been fun and productive, but we are looking forward to more shows as we get better and better at performing this complex and demanding style known as gypsy jazz.  It's also the funnest music in the world!  See you at a show soon and please take a moment to join our mailing list and subscribe to our You Tube Channel.

Fall News and Notes!

Great news! We sold out of our first run of CDs!  We already have a new run ready to sell online and at shows.  We also got our first check from Apple iTunes so the system appears to be working.  People are buying our music all over the world!  We are also getting some play on Spotify which is great because it puts our music into more speakers, iPads  iPhones, iPods, and computers.  Of course we would prefer people take a moment to buy the tracks from CD Baby or Bandcamp because every dollar helps us fund another album and helps with tour expenses.  

We are so excited to perform our first big concert in Baltimore on Thursday Nov.6 @ Creative Alliance.  This is going to be our first live concert professionally filmed so that folks can enjoy the entire concert on You Tube and Vimeo.  Look out for that in the coming months.  

A couple cool upcoming shows:  Ultrafaux will be doing a Stephane Grappelli tribute concert under the name Hot Club of Baltimore with violinist Patrick McAvinue at Germano's Cabaret in Baltimore on Nov.21st.  Space fills up quick, so book your tickets soon.  Then Ultrafaux will be doing all original music at Kennedy Center on Tuesday Jan.6 for their Millennium Stage Series. By then we will be performing all new music to record our next album in January 2015, just one year after forming the group in 2014.  We are looking at possible radio features on WYPR, WPFW, and WTMD in preparation for the next chapter of Ultrafaux as we move closer to going to Holland, Ireland, England, & France in the summer. The amazing Olivier Kikteff from Les Doigts de l'Homme will also be here in January touring with the exciting Marian Badoit Trio.  I know I plan on coming up to NYC to see them perform at Joe's Pub on Tuesday Jan.13.  We are looking into sharing the stage with this awesome ensemble sometime in January after that show. Stay tuned!

Incidentally we will be in NYC during the big APAP conference, which is the Association of Performing Arts Presenters.  That will be a good opportunity for us to meet the folks really making a difference in concert venues all over the world!  

We hope to see you all at our upcoming shows! 

Ultrafaux - Michael, Sami, & Eddie 

Radio interviews! WTMD & WPFW

We had a blast recently with two different radio interviews and live performances.  The first was for WTMD 89.7, an amazing station here in Baltimore with Sam Sessa for Baltimore Hit Parade which aired Tuesday June 10 at 9PM and will air again Sunday June 15 (Fathers Day) at 4PM.  The show was edited to perfection and spaced over about an hour featuring 4 of our original tunes and lots of great interview material.    You can stream WTMD here

The second was for Tom Cole of WPFW which aired last Sunday June 8.  You can listen to the archived show by scrolling about 1:05 (an hour and 5 minutes) into the show.  Go to Tom Cole's G-Strings June 8.  That was so much fun!  We had a great response from fans who listened as well.  Tom is just awesome!   

CD's, LP's available!

So excited to finally release our CDs and LPs! Just go to our Bandcamp site to order yours today.    We did our vinyl LP duplication at an amazing facility in Ohio called GottaGroove Records.

Strongly recommend them because they have great attention to detail and they do not outsource their pressing to another country.  Its all made in USA baby!!  Lots of new shows are in the works so please "like" our Facebook page and join our mailing list.  Check our website for updates.  We will be looking for street team members in NC and SC during our mini tour in August.  Also look for us in NYC July 19-22.   Find us on our new Twitter Site and ArtistData.    

UltraFaux is becoming an UltraReality

The final mixes are finally done being mastered and they are sent now to duplication.  Finally time to book show dates at venues all over the east coast!   Here is the new artwork:

Pretty cool huh?  We had a contest on Facebook and these two won as final pieces to use for artwork.  The cover is by very talented Bmore artist Mandy Stafford and the back is by Tomas Drgon (a regular at our weekly Monday gypsy jazz jam session).  The entire layout was done by Saxman and graphic designer on the side, Matt Rippetoe  at Sideman Creative.  I highly recommend Matt for your CD or LP design needs.  

Oh yeah, did I mention we are releasing VINYL!!!!!!!!!  So excited.  I have been wanting to release a record since I listened to Zeppelin and AC/DC on vinyl back in my frustrated days as an adolescent.  The fine folks at GottaGroove Records are doing the duplication.  They are a small operation in Cleveland and everything is done in-house which is rare in that business.  Most places outsource to other countries.  Definitely check these guys out if you want to make vinyl.  They even do a shorter run of 100 which was great for us because we wanted to make it a very special limited edition for our fans.   

I think I am most excited about doing a big CD release party here in Baltimore on June 5 at a place that is near and dear to us, Bertha's Mussels.  They have been hosting jazz shows for over 30 years in Baltimore and they have a sweet upstairs room for private shows that we hope to pack it with family, fans, and friends.  Best part is we get to listen to Jeff Reed Trio afterwards downstairs.  Its like our own after party with one of our favorite musicians performing!  

Can I say enough about our new bassist Eddie Hrybyk!! Wow.  I never thought in a million years that anyone could fill Jake Leckie's shoes.  HUGE thanks to Irene Gonzalez for introducing me to Eddie.   

Speaking of Irene, she and her daughter Monica will be appearing in our upcoming video along with some select folks who donated extra generous amounts to our kick starter campaign and various fun friends plus a few dancers. Yes our secret music video will be shot at our not-so-secret favorite hang out by Baltimore's own world-traveling cinematographer John Benam!!  I am officially freaked out about this thing in a good way.  CANNOT WAIT!  

Also excited about playing in NYC for the amazing Gypsy Jazz lovers there.  We are working on a few different spots throughout the year.  And of course Django In June Festival in Massachusetts.  That will be an absolute blast and great opportunity to hone my skills rubbing shoulders with the best of the best in the world.  It will all culminate one of my favorite groups Le Doigts de l'Homme  performing the final big show.  This will be an ecstatic experience for sure, and one that I will carry with me as inspiration in shows to come!  

Bon voyage - Michael